Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Daily Deercam

The woods are tinder dry and the yard burnt at the lakehouse. It's suffering, though it had a little kiss of a shower sometime today. Need more. God drinks, I think. Otherwise the weather would make more sense.

The spiderwebs are gone from the trails. Those black and white spiders that look more like crabs than spiders have cycled and the big red fat ones are next. I wave a twig as I go down the trail. Right now, it was clear for the 200 yards through the woods.

Twigs, leaves, shifts...the forest is very dynamic. I have to readjust my trail in a major way when a treetop comes down. Happens more often than you would think. I cross water twice on this trail. All dry. Plenty of open water in the creek for deer, though I would hate to drink it. People used to though, this whole bluff is a Caddoan Culture village site.

The Moultrie took my photo when I walked up. It's been 12 days on a rechargeable lantern battery. Big card. Good cam. Wouldn't the Caddoan Witch Doctor have loved this?

148 incidents and nearly 300 jpegs. Eight coons. Does. The two fawns. Zero bucks. They ought to be out of velvet by now. Haven't seen a one for the first time in four years of monitoring. Usually I have them all identified by now. Don't know what this means.

The neighbors aren't seeing any deer. They are here. I see hoofprints cutting through moleruns in the pasture.

This is a big, mature 4 -6 year old doe. You can see just a hint of ribs showing, though her backbone is still flush. She's experienced and able, developed chest and hindquarters, long face, grey and nearly rubbed bald along the top of her nose. She's not putting on winter coat yet. She's nursing two fawns with spots. The rut starts in about 90 days.

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Basics

Photographer from Tyler Texas. Images in collections and museums in the region. Still using film for exhibitions. Commercial work in digital.
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